Excision - Onyx FIRST LISTEN! *FULL STREAM* 

Jeff Abel returns with his 5th full-length solo LP. ► What are you guys making of 'Onyx' overall? ► Which track / tracks of the 17 are your picks, and why? 🤔 Drop all your thoughts in the comments, and enjoy 💙💙

Album so forgettable your chat started arguing about beans

This album is an elaborate shitpost. It has to be. It's not even entertainingly bad, it's just BLAND.

57:48 You know it's a rough EP when NAWTYSTEP says the most basic trap snare used in every trap song "sounds good."

1:15:38 The moment when Connor officially lost his mind

Excision waited until RU-vid removed public dislikes to release this, madlad

Excision don't use quarter not flow challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)

excision makes music for his live sets period. They arent going to break the mold they are meant to get the crowd hype.

52:50 saying what everyone else was thinking and putting it into words perfectly

1:13:13 seeing chat do a complete 180 after connor does an ironic reaction is just hilarious to me lmao

Recent fan. I love that you're trying to keep the chat calm and off the hate bro. You are 100% right, this album is the same song 13 or 14 times, then a few slower ones that honestly were better than the bangers IMO. Love the content, subscribing. Had sooooooo much fun during your Teminite Raise the Black Flag video. Looking forward to more moments like that album, and less like this X album.

Excision, if you read this, life gets better, as long as you tap into your true inner self. You can do it.

I'd describe this album as sad. It simply makes me sad, it's just money-grubbing slop for the most part from an artist who has done so much better in the past.

you know it's a sad situation when you can't even find a comment with the timestamps to the single songs!

21:13 is a rare moment of Connor actually liking a part of the album

I have been an Excision fan since Swagga the early 2010s. This album was such a disappointment for me due to the mixing. Even if there were good ideas, the mixing was so bad that nothing “hit” the way it should have. Also briddim just is lacking in my opinion as a while subgenre. It sucks but at least Fractals was amazing.

No way you actually uploaded this lol

Well in conclusion this definitely is another excision album. lacks some nice collabs, half of the collabs is dion and the others are mostly vocals (which tbf are good) and 3 of the collabs alrdy been released pre album drop. no space laces on this either. packed with the type of stuff youd expect, rather bland excision brostep that when you listen to it makes you think ''hm yea this is probably nice live but i wouldnt listen to this on my headphones'', which is kinda sad because the album has some very cool intros and build ups that sadly lack an equally good drop, they just lack energy and sometimes simply sound very empty. demisaur is on it which i actually enjoyed the most in terms of generic headbang stuff. osiris was actually a bit more interesting drop wise, back to life has a nice melodic vibe to it, plague doctor was kinda cool and felt more like excision was a band instead of a dubstep producer . i would like to say im disappointed but this was to be expected. its for the excision fans so ig it might hit different when you were at lost lands or something and heard some of these ids live, but to me it just sounded boring, much like the subsidia compilation which i dont even bother checking out anymore. on another note, there might be some cool remixes of this lp like always in the future.

It might be time for Excision to transition his style. He’s clearly lost any new ideas for briddim/riddim tracks, but Osiris, Plague Doctor, and Temporary Blue were amazing. That may be the sound he needs to start focusing on.

sadly i feel 75% of dubstep has become this over the past few years. I feel i've heard the same drops 500 times by this point.

This is certainly one of the albums of all time.

That thumbnail says everything

The complexity of the “new” sounds excision came out with on this album was very repetitive, but from an energy standpoint these songs absolutely destroy crowds at live shows I’ve witnessed it first hand. Maybe that’s what X is going for, crowd pleasers rather than to please the real dubstep bass music enthusiast. Hopefully he comes up with more brilliant ideas soon. I enjoyed the new album tho.

Cough Drop, The Last Elder, and Osiris are the only tracks I've returned to. The direction he went with Osiris is an avenue I'd like him to explore more. I wish the album had more of those elements

This is album is honestly just plain depressing because it's proof that all Excision releases now is stuff to cater to the headbanger community (if there is one at all lmao) and it's all the same briddim over and over again that we've been hearing for the past 3-4 years. Yet despite that, there are tracks like Osiris, Plague Doctor and Temporary Blue that are showcases of how Excision can still master many different styles of bass music that still have the "Excision feel" to them, it's soul-crushing to see less of these creative tracks and nothing but briddim.

“My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined”

B R I D D I M

This album is sooooooo BORING! A real shame as he is obviously an impressive producer

ngl osiris would've worked SO WELL as a midtempo track

The worst thing is that Reborn was the track used to announce Subsidia 😅 1:15:33 was my exact feeling after listening to this project.. Sad that it comes from an artist that used to make so much better music. I don't get also why he didn't choose to put out an ep with the ones he preferred instead of this massive album when some of the tracks are clearly duplicate 1:16:25 highlight of the stream ahahah

This album is

"No ifs and or buts... This album has songs. These songs are composed of sounds made by various instruments which play notes, and what a variety of notes we have here! If you're lucky, you might even catch words, and before anyone gets concerned, yes they are in the English language; and when it comes to having album art, this sure has it!" -Mic the Snare, 2021 in all seriousness this album caused me a lot of pain

Onyx was the first Excision album I've listened to. At the end of it I was like, really? That is all X is capable of? Then I have watched your review, and I was quite sad, that the problem is not in me. Then, I've listened to Codename X. Now I am happy again.

XD Just by the thumbnail alone I already know that Connor wasn't a fan lol. I honestly was SURPRISED by some of these and how GOOD they actually were (speaking about Osiris, Decimate and Cough Drop). Although I haven't finished the entire album as of yet, I am also left with mixed feelings. On the one hand, some of these drops (the ones I noted in particular) are Jeff in his FULL flow and it's GLORIOUS, but on the other hand, some songs are so generic sounding I can't honestly remember their names or moments. I still need to listen to the rest of the album though, so I don't have a verdict just yet. Edit: this album for the most part sucks. XD

Something inside some of those tracks screams soul/creativity being held in darkness against its own will.

With all these 4/4 rhythms excision should just release a hardstyle album

Excision, as well as his label, Subsidia are both just incredibly disappointing nowadays. Excision has had tracks I really enjoy like Rumble, Back To Back, Virus, and some others I could mention. Subsidia’s goal of finding underground producers and setting them on the main stage of the scene by having them on a label created by one of the biggest name’s in the bass music scene is a great idea, but already from the first volumes of Dusk, Dawn, and Night people could see issues with these comps. It’s really sad to see how Excision nowadays just caters to the headbanger crowd and pumps out stuff like this album here. Subsidia could have been a great platform for underground artists, but it hasn’t evolved at all from what I’ve seen. Honestly, I just feel an overwhelming amount of disappointment after listening to this twice now.

This guy must have fired his ghost producers after Codename X or Virus, I thought this album was atrociously bad but I didn't expect any more or less... 2 minute mega-power up buildups for disappointing, unimaginative & poorly executed drops lacking any energy or punch. I can't remember which track, but it has a sound that is him trying to remake the Throwin Elbows bass and its laughable, sums up the whole album really.

I wish Cough Drop was just the second drop twice. So fire.

Agh, I'll just go bump X-rated again.

Yeh, another overrated álbum of generic riddim/briddim. It's amazing how the whole album has the same riddim with different presets and that's it. Boring

Is it weird that the tracks I enjoyed the most (Plague Doctor and Osiris) weren't even Dubstep? Lol

this album is incredible. how can someone be so famous and so bad

I said this before, I'll say it again, Codename X is possibly one of the best dubstep albums of all time imo, so it hurts to see Excision as he is today. Only two songs here are noteworthy, Osris and Cough Drop, literally everything else on this album is the most basic briddim and melodic dubstep I've ever heard.

It bums me out that I don't get super hyped for Excision releases anymore. Since 2015 Every thing he has put out basically sounds the same. Loud, repetitive, crunchy, dubstep. I'm burnt out on it, snails does the same thing.

Am I the only one that noticed this album lacks BASS isn't Excision advertised as the king of bass so why does every song on the new Subtronics album have more bass like where did the production go I am a big fan of X but I can't believe he made fans wait over 2 years for this

Bothers me so much that the artwork is literally a celestial black hole (near uncanny to Gargantua Black Hole from the movie Interstellar) and yet there's not one elusion to a black hole in the song titles 😭

I feel like a lot of us were really let down with this one. It would’ve been tremendously refreshing if he touched back to his roots for this album instead of creating content for tour visuals. Could you all imagine if we got a downlink collab that was a nasty dnb dubstep hybrid? Or him approaching some heavy trap? Would’ve been monumental.

Alternative title: descend into madness with nawtystep for an hour and 20 minutes

definitely the songs are made specifically to be heard at festivals and not so much as a song that only you and your headphones can enjoy... they are made to create hype and headbang... but at festivals... and nothing else, I only expected a couple of songs from here and I'm happy

At this point I feel dion timmer is just ghost producing the stuff he’s not name-featured in

i genuinely couldnt handle some of this i had to skip the last couple of songs because they were so boring

Nawty "It's an idea, that is actually not even an idea" 😂

had to go watch the JoeB - Rock A Party review to feel something again

This album sure is music

1:14:53 that face tho xD

To me, this sounds like a Wooli album. I think after they collaborated, X got addicted to Wooli's sound and tried to use it for himself. The problem is he can't execute it nearly as well as Wooli can. I also think he could learn a lot from the newer generation of producers

It's really sad how we lost the best Canadian dubstep trio ... Datsik with his accusations, Excision fell off and god knows what happened to Downlink, haven't heard from him in a while.

Excision I feel like is putting his focus on festivals and shows right now since thats where the hype is after covid since they havent been happening as much hes making music thats gonna make the crowds go absolutely wild cause the music isnt crazy creative but hard

I know quite a few of us are bummed by the new album. I genuinely believe it is a lack of time to put towards his own music. These tracks felt very underdeveloped. That’s a product of trying to manage two major fests (LL, Bass Canyon), major events (Thunderdome, armory, etc..), touring, and running a label. I think he is spreading himself thin and his music is what is suffering as a result. If you were at LL his best set of the weekend was his throwback set (could argue detox) because it was all creative/groundbreaking tracks that were gas at the time they were released. Jeff is awesome at finding new and fresh sounds from the scene to mix into his sets and that’s been sustaining his tours since virus. That’s also why his Detox sets are sick. As much as I feel this album is lukewarm I can’t hate on the man because he has done so much for the scene and helping artists come up. That being said I think he needs to divert more time and energy to his albums. It would be sick to see him take his style more towards his detox sets like his track Osiris and bring back that mean creative style in a different and new format. That balanced with his headbanger tracks would be insane. Just my candid thoughts.

The most dissapointing song in this whole album is 100% “Run This” incredible intro and I was so ready to throw down when the drop came but jeeeeez what a bland drop

Looks like I’ll have to wait for Onyx Remixes album. I’m pretty sure that’s gonna be so much better than the original. So maybe expect artists like Leotrix, Akeos, Neonix, Syzy, Hukae, Phiso and some underrated artists remixing this album.

I think its safe to assume that Excision music keeps going more and more downhill. Either he lost his ghost producer from 2012-2016 era, and changed to antoher one, or he lost touch with his original inventiv self.

I feel like he's just trying to get with the times, but doesn't quite know how riddim works. I think he should make more older style tracks. That's the reason why we all love Excision in the first place.

This album to me is just borderline fine, not bad, not good, just fine. Yes it's very basic and plain but to me it sounds good and has some interesting elements to me, specifically Osiris and Plauge Doctor. I did enjoy Decimate and Cough Drop as well due to the sound design being nice. Overall this album definitely isn't anything but just fine

Yeah this album is just so regular tbh. Excision is capable of a lot more.

I just skipped forward randomly to "it's literally just one note repearing again. And again. And again" it blows my mind how often this is a problem. A little musicality goes a long way with this stuff and somehow they still are able to mess it up so often.

1:02:23 Aah fuck. Never thought I would ever say this but Excision broke Connor everyone, and not in a good way. That’s it for Nawtystep, it’s done. He will never be the same again.

mixdowns and masters on this are not as good as his last album, idk how thats possible

1:15:38 Connor frickin SNAPPED lol

The thing about this album is that there are so many really great ideas and intros that got me ready for something great, and then it hits me with a pretty underwhelming boring drop and makes the whole song unlistenable. Someone make an epic DJ mix of this album just replace all the drops with some from excision old shit or something and I'll love it😂

Lol the thumbbail was my reaction to hearing Excision dropped a new album

For me, who am not a critic, I found the track with kompany insane 🔥🔥

Didn't like this album. At all. I still prefer Excision's work from 2011-2014.

prolly worst album i've ever heard in my life

2 years later and still no Onyx remixes album... I guess no one were interested to remix an album filled with such forgettable tracks

painful listen

It's a big shame all of these genuinely good briddim songs got put side-by-side to magnify their similarities rather than their differences. Each of these songs taken alone is really good, but all of them together ends up feeling extremely bland.

Onyx is.. an album that exists. That's really the best thing I can say about it. The last time I properly enjoyed an Excision track was 'Feel Something'. With this album, only Temporary Blue & Plaque Doctor are the standout ones for me. I feel like Excision should take a step back from releasing so much; experiment more, properly flesh out his sound, & give it a new life. With this album or anything he's put out recently, it's all material we've already heard

also to people who say its just riddim or briddim Look at what phonon did with polyriddim People like svvden death , infekt,akeos,hukae,aweminus etc all do crazy stuff with riddim As for briddim just looka what VR did with redline

Can’t wait for the Subtronics Fractals First Listen ! It’s stellar compared to this ❤️

80% of the album was ass there were some listenable bits

The songs are definitely made to be played live, and they certainly do wreck necks in a live set, but as an album, listening casually in your car or whatnot, it doesn't work so great.

1:06:41 even in Plague Doctor you can hear the quarter notes just slower

How the hell is possible to publish an album like that in 2022, and from the most known Bass artist too... It's not Excision, it's Delusion.

1:02:19 Best Reaction

Are you gonna upload the Subtronics album stream I missed it :(

You have good point 54:46

Worse than yookies fission ep

1:15:40 - 1:16:18 lmao it REALLY does look like he's loving the drop when it's out of context

I think this album would have a different reception 5 years ago. As others pointed out Osiris and plague doctor seem to have the most unique sound than some of the other songs. That being said, the album feels almost as if no thought was put into the sequence of songs. Personally, I would have started the album with the osiris, plague doctor, built up to the heavy hitting songs then ended with the melodic; problem with that would be it highlighting a lot of these songs sounding very similar. The innovation on some of these songs just isn't there and it hurts. As an old-head I wish X nothing but the best. Would love to see him put together a detox album with songs that have the same vibe as Osiris and plague doctor but more fleshed out.

I think the best way i can describe this album is amateurish and cash grabby. Id barely pass this as an album and more of a compilation of random tracks. There's no coherence or sense of journey to it, you could put the tracks in any random order and still get the same payoff. A lot of the tracks here feel like they were made by someone just starting off making music. Which would be fine if excision didn't supposively have well over a decade worth of music in his catalogue, a lot of which are absolute bangers. This obviously brings up some very big questions about that past. Every track here basically sounds the same, bar like 3, which unfortunately don't have the production to back them up. Every briddim track his is basically the same song with slightly different sounds. Its the same story with the melodic ones. I'm not saying every track has to be some ground breaking new material, but they at minimum have to be different enough so it doesn't feel like you've listened to the same song 10 times on repeat. The whole album feels mass produced, its whole existences is just to be a consumable product, rather then a piece of art that has had love poored into it. It doesn't respect the listener and assumes they will have moved on in a week or so anyway (which tbh probably isn't fully wrong for this scene). Its just sad to see what excision has become

Tough crowd lol but I can agree that the versatility on some ideas are lacking, but I think those are signature sounds are formed that separates one artist from another. Clearly excision found a system and a recipe he uses that works. The crowd of dubstep shows and raves are typically teens and and young adults, those are for those peeps. They appreciate songs like that.

Huge excision fan here, but unfortunately it’s true, most of the songs sound the same

It was painfull to listen without skipping

This review gives me weird energy for some reason. This made me think about the dubstep scene in general

RIP Excision

Thumbnail is exactly how I thought about this album 😂

It's honestly not even sad anymore, this is genuinely funny. There is zero chance X actually enjoys what he puts out right now.

This just reinforces an opinion I had on Twitter a few weeks ago, the desire to make everything sound good live is stifling the overall creativity of the scene. While there were definitely a couple songs on here I was okay with, I could not find a single one I could say that I liked. Also that switch on the Sullivan King track made me burst into laughter it's SOOOOOO BAD